This invention relates to a media roll supply assembly and, more particularly, to an improved support assembly for mounting a media roll supply and for permitting the roll to be unwound therefrom.
Printers and plotters are known in the art which are capable of producing copies of large documents such as engineering drawings, blueprints and the like. Examples of such a machine is the Xerox 2510. The image-recording media, typically paper, is supplied in roll form by winding the paper about an inner core thereby forming a roll assembly. The roll assembly must be supported in an axial position so that the paper can be unrolled in a generally flat condition and then fed into the paper path of the particular document reproduction system. The roll mounting system must be able to meet certain requirements which may vary somewhat depending upon the particular reproduction system being used. At a minimum, the roll mounting system must be able to mount media rolls which contain cores whose ends are not flush with the ends of the media and whose inner core diameter varies over some range; typically from 2.8-3.1 inches. The media roll must also be centrally positioned to center the images to be formed on the media. Most importantly, the mounting system should also permit a media roll to be easily removed and replaced.
The present invention is therefore directed to a roll media support system which incorporates two mounting end assemblies which are each adapted to provide an axially directed, compressive force to media rolls mounted thereon. The biasing forces are made unequal so that a media roll is restrained against the end assembly having the weaker force. This arrangement permits a roll to be easily replaced. More particularly, the invention is directed towards a roll supply assembly for supplying a rolled media to a machine comprising, in combination, a first and second end mount assembly, having hub members for seating ends of the roll member in an axially-aligned position, said hub member operatively connected to biasing means adapted to maintain said media roll ends in stable pressure contact with said hub members.
Additional features of the invention include a tapered surface on the hub member which enables seating of media rolls having differing diameters. Also included is an adjustment mechanism for enabling adjustment of the axial registration of the installed media roll.